More after thought

Our booth was simple and the message was delivered clear. It was really interesting to have the real life trade show as a school project for a learning experience. I did enjoy it a lot. And glad to share our project idea with so many companies. It was very encouraging when they were actually thinking of how to improve their website and maybe considering using the tools we proposed. It was like having a real live test of our idea and project and judged by real companies.

The biggest different with trade show from the traditional in class presentation was to be able to receive the client feedback from real company executives right away. We were able to improve for our next "presentation" with customer feedback. The compliment and other accomplishment contributed to this wonderful learning experience.

Synergy in Fashion - eMarketing Trade Show

It is the world of internet generation. Almost all companies have company websites to be on the trend. But many fail to maintain or update their websites thus defeat the purpose of it. To analyze how companies synchronize online and offline business, we selected fashion industry which changes constantly and should be the on top of trend.

The industry is categorized into three segments. For the high end, using Gucci as an example, the internet is to promoting brand awareness and product searching. Product availability in store can be searched on website is one of the example to drive the traffic to offline stores. Most of the high end brands do not offer online shopping but Gucci does offer some limited selection online in US and UK. People can watch the fashion cat walk show online which used to be exclusive to VIPs only.

For the basic segment, we have Land’s End which was originally a catalogue business then move to internet business. Internet helps them to expend the market further. Since it concentrated mainly on its online business therefore there is more features developed for the website.

Then we take a look at the Armani Exchange (AX) for the example of the middle segment. This is the good example we find the better synchronize their online and offline business. For their online business, there is shipping discount and online sales. Customer could sign up to be on their mailing list. To promote their offline store business, occasionally offering online coupon to be printed for offline store discount. This would be a good tool to track the number of customer visited their website and shop in the store to know how effective the online promotion is. Merchandise bought online can be returned in stores in Canada too. Most of the consumer dislike shopping online beside high shipping cost is the return or exchange issue. By provide option to return offline, consumer may be more willing to take the risk to shop clothes online. If they do need to return in store, traffic to store will be created as customer walked in stores and may shop for more.

The synergy is the consistancy between the online and offline promotion event were in place at the same time. AX collectes customer’s contact information to send them text message the latest event and promotion. AX used the e-technology to connect their customer to drive in store traffic. We believe this is a good promotion tool and will talk more about it later.

Here we evaluate the websites base on the “7Cs of Customer Interface”.

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Then we compare Armani Exchange with Lands’ End. From the chart we can tell there are still some areas they can learn from each other to improve their website. But by looking at it, we can easily tell the different characteristics and target customer of each brand. For example the target customer for AX are younger therefore the website is more creative and interactive. There are more audio and visual content. Because Lands’ End focuses more on their online business they provide more features to improve online shopping experience like online live customer services and customized model in your size.

Then, we would like to talk about using text message as a tool to synchronies online and offline business.

Using wireless technology (text message) to promote offline business is used widely in Asia. Many stores will send promotion message to their loyal customers who have provided their numbers voluntarily.

Text message promotion can work for small or large companies. In compare to traditional printing advertisement this method is cheaper and environmental friendly. It can also reach its target customers more efficiently because those are the one sign up for the notification. Text message can be easily forwarded and it can be another way of “word of mouth”. If the message can be designed to have customer show the message to receive a surprise gift or discount, it can be utilized to trace the effectiveness of the method. It is always very important to trace the effectiveness of the marketing strategy or plan to know whether the investments were well spent or where need to improve.

Then we would like to take a look at a good example of online shopping websites

Because customers can not try on clothes when shopping at Lands’ End, it provides a virtual model that can be customized in size and specific measure. Customers can virtually try on the outfit using the model in their sizes. Then turn the view to see how it would look like.


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Generally, to offer customer a good shopping experience, it should be user friendly. Often customer could get lost or stuck. Exclusive offer and more interactive function would definitely help. Since consumer can’t see the actual product, more detail description is necessary to help with customer’s shopping. And a good shopping website would have “recommendation” section that is easy for customer to find similar item they may like for saving time.

A good website would promote better brand image. If companies fail to update their website or synchronize their online and offline business, it may create mix message and confuse customers therefore would create a negative impression toward the company.

Our study found many companies’ website was identical or structured like a catalogue. Many companies still concentrate on their offline business and using traditional advertisement. Most of the company websites still served as information database but fail to spot the great marketing opportunity if they can better design and maintain the website. We believe there is still a big “market” for website improvement on online offline synergy.

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TeAM mates:

Terence Wang (http://bdcinternational.blogspot.com/)

Mitch Lyons (http://mitchellclyons.blogspot.com/)

Annie Yu (http://newvalleygirl.blogspot.com/)

For handout of our project, please visit Mitch's blog
For Trade Show board detail and other thought, please visit Terence's blog

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Work in process....

I am working on the blog to show you what my team did in eMarketing trade show. Unfortunately that I did not have a chance to take a picture of the whole trade show and hope someone can share.

Here is the photo of how it looks half completed. Remember to come back for the completed version and detail.

Trade show preview

Two more day before our trade show. For your sneak preview, here is the design done by Terence for our team. Don't you think it is nice and cool. We are still looking for stuff to make it more eye catching.

If you are free at 6 pm next Monday, Oct 6, please come and check us out at Robson Square.

Trade show topics:

• In-game advertising
• Online-offline synergies and failures
• Genuine Conversations - how to optimize the customer blog experience to draw customer
• How to Measure the Success of the Business Objects Technical Community
• Marketing the Brainify.com Web 2.0 Application
• ...and more!

BUZZ = customer feedback

We talked about Viral or "BUZZ" in class as one marketing technique which may be utilized by the company but mostly by accident. Today I found out there is a company actually research and study buzz /internet word of mouth(IWOM) in China to understand the customer for purpose of product improvement and PR.

I guess study of "buzz" or what consumer is blogging about the company or product is also a way of "listening" to the customer. Customer won't necessary tell the company about their complain or what they like or dislike about the product but they may blog about it. Especially, it is easier to blog it then to find the company website for complain. We don't even know whether they are listening or even care but we know our friends are reading the blog.

SNS

There is a new popular social networking Services (SNS) in Chinese. The article said the international services, like Facebook, was not popular in China because of language. I checked Facebook right away and find out it does offer multi language and in Chinese too, so it may be misleading. But I am not in place to judge since I don't know whether it is true or not.

But anyway, the point is this new Chinese version of Facebook offer virtual money to buy virtual car and diamond. So everyone was sending out invitation to everyone they know to earn the virtual money. People post meaningless comments and chat on the net. It is like a virtual world. I have been ignoring the invitation because I did not know what it was. The article did mention there are some new games but you would be bored after awhile. Therefore retaining the member might be a challenge. I did sign up with Facebook not long ago but I did not visit it often. Either because I have not discover the fun of it yet or I don't have many friends on it. Most of my friends are on MSN, so why would I need to "chat" with them on Facebook which is not "live". But I guess the difference would be Facebook is open to all friends to see and keep track of activities and conversations, like a blog but shorter.

Often I also wonder why would people have time to chat on MSN or Facebook. shopping on line or surf the net at work. Is it because they are efficient and I am not? I assumed most of the professionals would not have time for it. So if the company use SNS or this type of interactive tool, who are they talking to?

Other thought on SNS:

"Start-up for ‘super-networkers'" ia about the new SNS for "super networker". This SNS has a clear target market but some think it is late to enter the market in late 2008. Although research shows growth potential, I think the new online network need to be special for the target customer to make it work. Because most likely the "super networker" already join many existing SNS. There were actually many other SNS with special target market like Japanese biggest networking website expended their market to retired senior citizens aiming at the baby boomers.

"TEENAGERS FALL IN LOVE WITH NETWORKING SITES" said about 55% of American teenagers spend too much time on Internet, especially on SNS and reveal too much of their personal information. This raise another privacy issue that need to be regulated to protect the children. Too many of our personal information were open to public without our awareness. Many of us enjoy the convenience of Internet tool but often forgot to verify the setting of privacy and security.

There were also some legal issue regarding these SNS when people published whatever on their blog or space, is it illegal? It has became an difficult issue since it involved with people globally. If the user-generated content is a “user-stolen” intellectual property but not for business purpose. Some company encourage it as a word of mouth for promotion and some sue the individule for copytheft. where is the clear line? To punish MySpace is to stifle cyberspace

Network online & socialize offline

Open Thought: How Internet changed our life?

In Monday class, we talked about all kind of website, tools and gadgets out there. Terence mentioned about the "meet up" website for people to get offline and meet. I guess I am not the only one feel that way and there is need for people to go out and meet others. Such website provide platform for people to network online and socialize offline. I think the face to face interaction is always necessary, no matter how technology evolved.

Article Review: How Companies are Marketing Online

Overview:
Companies are using digital tools for customer services. Most of the companies advertise online and majority of those also using digital tools for product development. Online ads were considered useful for brand building for receive direct response. More companies will spend majority of the advertising budget online in next two to three years. Many companies expect to gain more sales from online channels. But most of the companies treated the online and offline marketing separately.

Companies:
The reasons of low usage of online tool were lack of capabilities to manage them and limited access to high-speed Internet. Online marketing tools were used more frequently by public companies in high-tech industry. Most widely used functions were providing service information via Web sites, interacting with customer via email and sales transaction. The companies use digital tool frequently would more likely to use complex tool for online service, like Internet calling or chats. As the use of digital tool increases, online and offline campaigns would likely to be more integrated.

Consumers:
Most consumer use the Web to search for information. Web would be part of two stages of the consumer decision-making process – product awareness and information gathering. Therefore companies see it as a useful vehicle in brand building.

Interactive tools:
Collaboration tools used internally help to make information more accessible by everyone in the organization without have to flow through layers to reach the decision makers. Most of companies who advertise online also use some kind of interactive tool for customer service. Some companies host forums for customers to exchange idea or help each other. Interactive tools were used to help build relationship between customers and companies to the benefit of customer retention and brand building. A lot of companies also use the tools to involve customer in product developing or to test idea. It is part of the business technology trends that encourage user collaboration. Base on the survey by McKinsey, Web services, collective intelligence and Peer-to-peer networking were more popular for company investments. Some companies are more focus on networking and collective intelligence technologies then others. These companies are usually large, in high tech and in Asia, especially in China where companies adopt fast even though they were later followers.

These studies only show how Internet improved interaction with customers. But many companies switch the service online completely and discourage consumer to reach them offline. The interactions were sometimes cut off and would be considered as bad services. Some online service system were not well design to serve all customers’ need and was not flexible, therefore it is necessary to have service integration online and offline.

Cautions:
Internet has changed fundamental processes of communication in term of who provide information and how the audience receives it. In term, corporations lose a degree of control at it. Traditionally, consumer can only receive the information provided by the corporation with traditional media. With Internet, everyone can be the information provider and the control is limited. Therefore it is necessary to learn how to better manage its reputation online and better handle the negative impact on corporate reputation.

Online Sales:
Majority of companies would like to gain sales online while facing infrastructure and culture issues offline. Many companies were lack of resources to keep up with a sales channel online and some simply neglected it. Although many corporation plan to invest in this area, many factors need to be considered. US is one of the mature market with good infrastructure to support the online shopping activity. And consumers in US were exposed to concept of catalog and TV shopping therefore the concept was well accepted by consumer. Another good example would be China with a fast growing online market. Internet penetration is growing rapidly and consumer start to realize the benefit of shopping online. To encourage online shopping, there are intermediate service providers that offered online payment with bank to prevent fraud. It is a good example of the technology development according to culture and shopping hobbit of the country. With the development and successfully implemented, the technology then can be transferred. But interestingly, it was not the payment security that consumer were most concerned in China but the quality and security. Security and privacy would be the issue still required improvement or even regulation worldwide to promote online shopping.

Integration:
Most companies still separate their online and offline marketing efforts. Many companies’ regular businesses are disconnected from their online business. It is important for companies to have integrated campaigns. A lot of online marketing were to influence the offline sale. But a well integrated service will improve consumer’s overall experience. It is for companies’ benefit not only at cost cutting, but also for better customer satisfaction or experience to have integrated marketing online and offline.

Conclusion:
It is the technology trend for companies to market online with technology tools. It will not only improve consumer relation, it often improves communication and efficiency internally. Implementing technology tools not only encourage customer interaction but also help with product development. Companies need to use the tools with caution for maintain brand image. Companies need to learn how to transfer the benefit offline. It is also important to understand the risk of the tool too. Many companies expect the online marketing to be a major tool in the future therefore properly select the right tool and management would be something company need to pay closer attention to.

References (click to view)

Children of online marketing

Terence refer online and offline marketing strategy integration as marriage. It make me think about the interactive marketing tools that companies adopted. These tools would be like the children of the marriage. They need to be attended, educated and regulated to grow up properly to contribute to the society/business. Isn't that the same as how companies should do when implemented the tools. Because of the fact that companies would have less control over how the consumers will do or say on Internet, it is more critical for the comapnies to put more effort and be prepared for any unexpected. Proper guideline and regulation would be necessary to maintain companies' reputation. But too much interruption may lose the trust from the consumers and defeat the purpose of the interactive online tool. It is like parents should closely guild and help the develop of children's life but still give them enough freedom and power to develop their own future. How to handle properly would be the question.

Picuture source: http://shafiur.i-edit.net/wp-content/uploads/2006/02/web2.jpg

How internet changed our life?

My Internet connection was off and I was frustrated. Internet is the main communication channel I have with my family and friends in the world. Therefore I feel disconnected when I can’t get on Internet.

Internet made the world seem smaller but also made our personal world smaller. People can easily chat online or pass on the information therefore the social life seems unnecessary now. People go out less and there is less face to face interaction. We can purchase things online and most of business can be done online. I remember an ad about a girl never go out of her house because of the shopping website therefore the only way for the boy who likes her to talk to her is online. I wonder what the world will become if we only stay at home and connect the world online only.

I hope and I know it won’t happen because we all love socializing and going out. We all enjoy a good dinner at restaurant with someone we love. Traveling and seeing places with your own eyes is different from seeing the photo on the internet.

Internet suppose to make life easier and better because people can be reached easier and communication is a lot better. Therefore the distance between people should be shorter now. But lot of time we find ourselves busier because technology makes the life faster. At my work, I would be working with co-workers located all over Asia Pacific and sometimes I have to work late to reach co-workers in North America. Because of technology, there is no more excuse for delay and things get delivered.

People everywhere are either on the phone, sending text message or reading email on blackberry. Technology is part of our life now and it is harder to have life / work balance. To catch up with the speed of technology, everyone is rushing. It is ironic that with blackberry you can actually "work" outside of office. There should be less overtime because you can check email everywhere. But then you would be working all the time, isn't it? It is actually good or bed would depend on the perception.

I wonder how our life will become with rapid change of technology….

TeAM Project

Before I post my thought about my "research" experience, it would help to post the project outline first. Our team decided to do the project on how company connected online and offline and how can it be improved.

I will be responsible for the store that I can actually buy something... for better utilize my short stay in Vancouver....

My way of time mangement ^_^

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T e A M Project Outline

Terence Wang - http://bdcinternational.blogspot.com/
e-Marketing Project
Annie Yu - http://newvalleygirl.blogspot.com/
Mitchell Lyons - http://mitchellclyons.blogspot.com/


Subject: Online – Offline Synergies and Failures
Market: Fashion/Clothing Companies (3 Price Levels)

I. Fashion/Clothing Industry Overview
II. Analysis Objectives
III. Benefits of on/offline Symmetry
IV. Analysis of Companies (3 Markets)
– compare and contrast with selected International examples
A. Economy Fashion (Below $80)
B. Mid-Level Fashion ($80-300)
C. High Fashion (Above $300)
V. Recommendations and Best Practices